Members of the Siskiyou Babe Ruth 14-year-old All-Star team are ready to test their resolve as the group heads to Centralia, Wash., for the Babe Ruth Pacific Northwest Regionals.

After all, this is a group of teens that came back from an opening loss to earn the right to take part in Regionals.

The winner earns a berth to the Babe Ruth World Series. Regionals feature top teams from Washington, Idaho and Canada, who are all battling for the right to play in the World Series.

To get to this point, the Siskiyou squad won the Northern California, Southern Oregon state tournament in Klamath Falls on July 21. It was the first time in many years a Babe Ruth All-Star team had won this tournament, head coach Bob Fraley said.

The 12-member squad only had three practices to get ready for Klamath Falls but banded together quickly.

While a talented group of players, Fraley said the key was the group buying into the team concept and working together as a cohesive unit and not as individuals with separate goals who are just thinking about themselves.

"They understand while they are a talented group of kids, it's about teamwork if they want to succeed" he said.

The team consists of players from throughout the county including Yreka, Scott Valley and the South County.

In Klamath Falls, Siskiyou opened the tournament on Thursday, July 18, with a 7-5 loss to top-seeded Umpqua Valley. A key, Fraley said, was that the squad did not get discouraged and went to work and began to dominate the competition, including scoring 20 runs in two contests. Also, Siskiyou scoring 23 runs in the title game this past Sunday against South Coast.

"We didn't panic," said Cedar Mcree, a player from Dunsmuir. "We just kept playing baseball."

Fraley commended the players for the way "everyone contributed." It helped that the team is strong in all the facets of the game, from hitting and pitching to defense.

"We've got a lot of really good players," said Peyton Dickinson of Scott Valley. "Everyone knows what they're doing."

The team leaves on Saturday for the seven-hour trip to Centralia. On Monday, the Siskiyou team opens the event with a game against North Washington in the afternoon. Siskiyou will play at least four games throughout the week.

While the competition should be tough, Fraley believes the squad can go out, be competitive and hopefully win some games.

When the squad retuned from Oregon, parents and players quickly went out to try to raise funds before Friday morning to help offset the cost of making the trip to Regionals. By Thursday, the team had received a substantial amount of donations, Fraley said.

"It's been very nice with the way the community has stepped up," he said. "I know times are tough right now. We all want to thank them."

Page 2 of 2 - While the team members come from throughout the county, the majority of them know each other from playing on the same team or against each other over the years, Dawson Fraley of Yreka said. Even though they had a short practice time this familiarity helped the group "gel quickly," Fraley said.